New year, new brand? Learn how updating your brand identity can help you reach your organization’s goals and stay relevant to your target audience.
January is always an exciting time for reflection and goal setting for the year ahead. Just like with your personal growth, the new year is the perfect time to reflect on how you can elevate your brand and let go of anything stopping it from reaching its greatest potential. There’s no better way to do this than by asking whether it’s the right time for a brand refresh.
Undergoing a visual brand refresh is a smart way to breathe life into your existing brand identity without radically reinventing it. This may mean updating your logo, typography, tagline or messaging to better reflect your brand’s values, reach your target audience and remain relevant in an ever-evolving marketplace.
Learn more about why a brand refresh can be so impactful below. Plus, we cover a few of our favorite examples to help you get inspired to take your branding to the next level!
What is a brand refresh?
A brand refresh updates your visual identity while a complete rebrand transforms it. Unlike a rebrand, a refresh doesn’t scrap existing assets, it elevates them. A brand refresh allows you to shed the elements that are holding you back—like an outdated logo, uninspiring color palette or clunky website design—and embrace a new look. Small changes in typography, color scheme, language and style are often all you need to keep your brand’s image relevant.
A successful brand refresh allows you to retain your organization’s core identity while better preparing you to enter a new market or expand your reach to new audiences. Remember, the look and feel of your brand should clearly and instantly communicate your organization’s values and appeal directly to your target audience. If you find that over time your visual identity no longer represents who you are as an organization, it’s probably time for a brand refresh.
How do you know when it’s time to refresh your brand?
Does your current branding align with your company mission? Is your website consistently attracting your target audience? Are you reaching your donation goals? If you answered “no” to any of the following questions, it might be time to give your branding a facelift.
Our art director Maggie Harding knows the importance of a good brand refresh. “Your logo and general brand aesthetic are typically the first things people notice. If they’re outdated or don’t reflect who you are as a brand, it could negatively impact your business goals.”
Below are three examples that illustrate just how impactful a brand refresh can be.
Does Your Logo Align With Your Company’s Mission?
A key rule of thumb when it comes to branding is that everything from the color palette to the visual design of your logo, app and website should instantly reflect your organization’s mission and overall goals. This may come from a color scheme that encapsulates the energy and mood you want your brand to convey, or it could be as simple as using a memorable visual motif in your logo that audiences will immediately associate with your organization.
This is what inspired our client UpSpiral to refresh their branding with an updated logo. After updating their brand messaging, they wanted imagery to reflect this new identity to current and potential clients. Their new logo makes use of a slightly updated but still recognizable color palette and a visual design that keeps their brand front and center.
UpSpiral merges cutting-edge research, forward-thinking expertise and your unique insights to design and deliver agile leadership development programs that prepare your teams for the future.
Is Your Brand Attracting Your Target Audience?
Have you thought about how your brand messaging appeals to your target audience? Your customers’ and donors’ attitudes are always evolving, and you may need to update the language used to describe your brand and mission accordingly. A brand refresh offers the perfect opportunity to rework your core messaging to make sure it’s really engaging your target audience.
Our client Meltzer Hellrung recently sought our help to promote the launch of their new software platform, Voyager. They wanted a way to let their core audience of existing clients know about the benefits of the new platform while also attracting new clients with the software launch. We identified opportunities for Meltzer Hellrung to engage their audience and made tactical recommendations based on platform and visibility.
In addition to updating their logo, we drafted new boilerplate language, identified key product features, and created new taglines to use when marketing the software in social and email. This fresh yet cohesive messaging helped (re)introduce Meltzer Hellrung to existing and potential clients as an immigration services and software company.
Meltzer Hellrung collaborates with clients to build tailored global immigration strategies to ensure they are able to recruit and retain the best talent the world has to offer.
Are You Reaching Your Donation Goals?
Are your donations and leads increasing at a rate that serves the growth goals of your organization? If not, you may benefit from a digital brand refresh, including updating or redesigning your website. Rainbows for All Children revamped their digital presence with a new, user-friendly website and a brand refresh that included a redesigned logo.
With our help, Rainbows for All Children was able to showcase their mission and information about their organization in a fresh, visually compelling way. This refresh made it easier for their target audience to find the information they need, utilize Rainbows for All Children’s many helpful resources, and donate to the organization.
With a refreshed website design and logo, Rainbows for All Children has amplified their efforts to engage and educate families, educators, mental health professionals and donors even more than before.
Rainbows for All Children is dedicated to providing support for all youth as they navigate grief and heal from loss.
Want to Learn More?
If you’re interested in a brand refresh, contact us at Yakkety Yak. We’re no strangers to breathing new life into existing brands, and we’d love to help you find and execute your fresh, new look in 2023.
